*discalimer: I worked on a post for about 2-3 days all about our summer and it just continued to be a big disaster. Not our summer but the post, the pictures were skewed and not posting correctly, the words were being jumbled all over the page, so I trashed it! Maybe you weren’t supposed to be a part of our summer shenanigans…so sorry for that but this is kinda a big part of what summer did to us….
2 summers ago when my husband and I met we watched a couple people paddle board on the river. I think we literally saw 2 people making their way up river. We thought it looked cool and I found out that my husband to be was a board sport junkie, he loved kayaking and rafting and fishing and the thought of living in Central Oregon was super cool for him and perhaps he could even find a career that let him do all the things he loved and get paid for it. Instead God gave him a job in sales.
Last summer, we saw about a half dozen people on paddle boards almost every time we drove by the river. We thought it looked so fun and really wanted to try it out but it never happened.
This summer we jumped on a paddle board the first chance we got and we fell head over heals for the darn thing. So much so that the very next day we rushed to the nearest retailer to buy one. We asked questions about the boards but no one tried very hard to sell us one, plus once I saw the $1500 price tag I shut down. Ridiculous price and I would have to buy a $150-$500 paddle on top of that. Nope, I’m good. But God had planted a seed.
Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desire of your heart, psalm 37:4 (for more of an explanation of what this verse means see this POST.
We continued to dream and to talk and God made the seed of desire grow. We planned a little and prayed a bit and dreamed a tad bit more. Before we knew it we were dreaming ridiculous dreams and envisioning radical stuff and then he said it….’no risk no reward’.
We took a calculated risk. 
That step was full of faith, following a ‘what if’, and mostly wrapped up in the disclaimer statement ‘at least we’ll end up with our own boards’.
This first step off the deep end into our little dream and the God given desire, and it all exploded….in a good way. Day after day, thought after thought, prayer after prayer the next step was revealed. This pattern continues each day. Here is what we know about planning:
Proverbs 13:6 A wise man plans ahead
Proverbs 15:22 Without consultation, plans are frustrated, but with many counselors they succeed.
Proverb 16:9 A man’s heart deviseth his way: but, the Lord directeth his steps.
Oh and this one….don’t you just want to look deep into these truths with me someday?
Proverbs 24:3-4 By wisdom a house is built, and by understanding it is established; and by knowledge the rooms are filled with all precious and pleasant riches.
So, my friends this summer God had bigger things planned then simply the camping and fairs and trips and fun. God let a seed grow and a plan began to bloom. I’ll tell you all about it in a couple weeks.
What is your next move? What desires might God be stirring in you? Let me give you a little nudge using some of Bob Goff’s thoughts from his book ‘Love does’.
Pick something you aren’t just able to do; instead, pick something you feel like you were made to do and then do lots of that. You’re here and I’m here….not at just anytime (in history) but at this time. God made you to love some things and not like others, He made you to dream…a lot. After Jesus arrived on earth, God whispered to all of humanity…”It’s your move.” Heaven’s been leaning over the rails in the same way ever since you got here, waiting to see what you’ll do with your life.
go do it!
